One in the eye for generic brands
Sep. 30th, 2012 02:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stephbgIt's been a while since I've done a medical update post, and it looks like I need to do one right now. Now being 2:30am *sigh*. This won't be very coherent, for reasons that will probably become apparent if I just keep typing.
On Monday 24 September 2012 I had a review appointment with Dr T. He encouraged me to switch from the generic brand of fluoxetine (otherwise known as Prozac) I've been using (Auscap) to the name brand Lovan he'd been prescribing all along. I've not been taking it as Lovan because I believed that the darker green food colouring used in the capsules was affecting me as most food colourings and additives do. I take 5 x 20mg capsules of these per day, so it would definitely add up.
I agreed to trial the change because he believed that I would benefit from what would effectively be a higher dose on the better quality product. I've been assured endles times by pharmacists that there is no difference, but it looks like the doc was right all along.
I started on the new brand on Tuesday 25th, and yesterday morning (Saturday 29th) I felt particularly woozy. I felt woozy before that, but not beyond my usual range of woozy. So much woozy. On Sat afternoon I started to feel agitated (basically wanting to murder the enighbours who were getting rowdily drunk and having a good time watching the football), but I kept it under control. It took a while before I felt ready for bed and settled at about 1:20am. Then things got bad. Really extreme muscle jerks and twitches, more agitation and irritation. I started to feel the way I did when I've previously increased dosage - restless and bloody minded. In this state in the past I've gone for ridiculously long hikes in the middle of the night. Right now my fingers are doing the hiking - I'm typing at great speed.
So yes, my inescapable conclusion is that the name brand is more powerful at the same alleged dose than the knockoff. Great. But it leaves me in a slightly psychotic state. The solution? More drugs! MOAR! 2.5mg of Diazepam (sic?) to be precise, even if I can't spell it right now. Valium, let's say, but not that brand. Ha. I'm no fan of the stuff but I think it's very important that I come down from this bad place quite soon. Not ASAP - otherwise I'd have taken more, but without delay. I had options, and I'm no fan of the valium, but this struck me as the best way to counter the agitation. That's what it said on the box after all.
My head hurts :-(
And now we wait.
ETA: About 2 hours later. Definitely calmer and less twitchy, but ITCHY. Had some nausea and dry mouth earlier but that appears to have settled. Headache still not much fun. Itch could be reaction to food colouring as originally suspected, or possibly just another drug side effect. It's usually a preservative thing. I don't think I'll be sleeping any ime soon, nor does it look likely I'll be able to go to day 2 of Crimescene in a few hours, even just to watch Husband give his talk on the history of Fremantle Prison. But then, I won't be driving...
On Monday 24 September 2012 I had a review appointment with Dr T. He encouraged me to switch from the generic brand of fluoxetine (otherwise known as Prozac) I've been using (Auscap) to the name brand Lovan he'd been prescribing all along. I've not been taking it as Lovan because I believed that the darker green food colouring used in the capsules was affecting me as most food colourings and additives do. I take 5 x 20mg capsules of these per day, so it would definitely add up.
I agreed to trial the change because he believed that I would benefit from what would effectively be a higher dose on the better quality product. I've been assured endles times by pharmacists that there is no difference, but it looks like the doc was right all along.
I started on the new brand on Tuesday 25th, and yesterday morning (Saturday 29th) I felt particularly woozy. I felt woozy before that, but not beyond my usual range of woozy. So much woozy. On Sat afternoon I started to feel agitated (basically wanting to murder the enighbours who were getting rowdily drunk and having a good time watching the football), but I kept it under control. It took a while before I felt ready for bed and settled at about 1:20am. Then things got bad. Really extreme muscle jerks and twitches, more agitation and irritation. I started to feel the way I did when I've previously increased dosage - restless and bloody minded. In this state in the past I've gone for ridiculously long hikes in the middle of the night. Right now my fingers are doing the hiking - I'm typing at great speed.
So yes, my inescapable conclusion is that the name brand is more powerful at the same alleged dose than the knockoff. Great. But it leaves me in a slightly psychotic state. The solution? More drugs! MOAR! 2.5mg of Diazepam (sic?) to be precise, even if I can't spell it right now. Valium, let's say, but not that brand. Ha. I'm no fan of the stuff but I think it's very important that I come down from this bad place quite soon. Not ASAP - otherwise I'd have taken more, but without delay. I had options, and I'm no fan of the valium, but this struck me as the best way to counter the agitation. That's what it said on the box after all.
My head hurts :-(
And now we wait.
ETA: About 2 hours later. Definitely calmer and less twitchy, but ITCHY. Had some nausea and dry mouth earlier but that appears to have settled. Headache still not much fun. Itch could be reaction to food colouring as originally suspected, or possibly just another drug side effect. It's usually a preservative thing. I don't think I'll be sleeping any ime soon, nor does it look likely I'll be able to go to day 2 of Crimescene in a few hours, even just to watch Husband give his talk on the history of Fremantle Prison. But then, I won't be driving...
